A vegetarian student ended up buying some alarmingly fresh veg while out shopping in Morrisons, complete with a wriggly little stowaway.
Vagner Cuna, 23, grabbed a 99p bag of pak choi on his way home from the gym, choosing one from the back of the shelf so as to avoid products that had been handled by other customers.
Little did he know that a live newt had curled itself up quite happily among the leaves, going undetected until the languages student was back at home in his kitchen.
It appears the newt also had a lucky escape with Vagner, who lives in Camden, having been about to pop the pak choi in his air fryer before clocking the small maroon amphibian.
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Vagner recalled: "I was chatting to my brother, Roy, on the phone and I was about to put the pak choi in the air fryer. I opened the packet, I flipped it - and that’s when I saw it
“I wish my initial reaction was recorded because it was so funny.
"I was talking to my brother nice and calmly and then I just went ‘f***!’ My brother was really worried, he thought I’d burnt myself or someone had got into the house or something."
Roy then rushed home, and with the help of a neighbour, the caring brothers thought up a plan to return the creature safely to its natural habitat.
Vagner continued: “I have never had a pet in my life, I have zero idea how to maintain this animal. Initially, I just thought okay, I can just take it back to Morrisons - but then for a 99p packet of veg, was it really worth it?
“Plus I had no idea what they were going to do - they might just throw him in the bin or something.”
After taking his new pal to his local pet shop, Vagner was told they wouldn’t be able to take it off his hands - but did offer a free cage and some helpful advice.
Having initially thought the beastie to be a lizard, Vagner discovered it was in fact a smooth newt, an amphibian that requires water to stay alive.
However, Vagner still had no idea what to do with the little creature - after a local vet also failed to provide help.
Fortunately, a friend who studies veterinary medicine had followed Vagner's dilemma on social media, and advised him to release the newt onto a riverbank or another moist area, but not to actually put it in the water.
Vagner ended up releasing the newt at London's Regents Park. He has since admitted to having become quite attached to his unexpected guest and would have kept him around if he'd had more experience with pets.
A Morrisons spokesperson said: “We'd like to thank Vagner for arranging the safe release of the newt back into the wild.
“And apologise for our four-legged friend, who felt the need to become a bit of a 'newt-saince' by making its way into a bag of pak choi."
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